Re: [tied] Q&A about Iranian peoples

----- Original Message -----

From: Davius Sanctex

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2001 8:36 PM

Subject: [tied] Somes questions about iranian peoples

> What was the language of "Regnum Ponticum" of Mithridates IV?

 

You probably mean Mithridates VI Eupator (famous as a polyglot), but of course Mithridates IV was also king of Pontus. Before Alexander's conquest of Persia (330 BC) the area was a Persian satrapy. The language of oficial communication was Aramaic, "international" languages like Greek and early Middle Persian exerted their influence, and there must have been any number of local languages, including Pontic (whatever its affiliations) and perhaps the ancestor of Armenian. I'm not sure about the details of the linguistic situation in Pontus during the Hellenistic age, except that the influence and prestige of Greek surely increased.

 

> What was the language of the "Alani"?

 

Opinions vary, since the evidence is scarce, but the majority view is that Alanic can be identified with Old Ossetic.

 

> Is Saka (khontanese) some form of Scythian?

 

Khotanese Saka is a Northeast Iranian languages, most likely a close relative of "Scythian" (= the Iranian dialectal continuum of the North Pontic area). Khotanese branched off relatively early from the rest of NE Iranian, leaving a group of more closely related languages, such as the various Sogdian dialects (modern Yaghnobi has sprung from one of them) and "Sarmatian" dialects (including Alanic, supposed to be ancestral to modern Ossetic).

 

> Did Sarmatians and Scythians speak the same language?

 

Related NE Iranian dialects -- in dialect continua (but there are well-known problems with the terms "Scythian" and "Sarmatian" when used in the linguistic sense; the peoples in question may have been a fairly mixed lot)

 

> Are yazigians and sarmatians the same people?

 

The "Sarmatians" included a number of more or less autonomous tribes -- the Alani, Roxolani, Yazygi, etc.

 

> What was the historical end of cimerii?

 

Their prolonged conflicts with the Lydian and Assyrian empires during the 7th c. BC y finally exhausted their strength. The Cimmerians left the scene and their remnants were dispersed and apparently absorbed by other populations.

 

4) Hasta q época sobrevivió el cimerio? que relación exite entre esta lengua y el escita?

 

The Cimmerians became a notorious threat south of the Caucasus towards the very end of the 8th c. BC and overran Asia Minor soon afterwards. According to Herodotus, they were driven out of their homes on the northern coast of the Black Sea by the migrating Scythians. Their languge is an enigma. Some of their leaders had Iranian-sounding names, but that doesn't prove much.

 

Piotr